Police search for mother after child's fall

Spanish police were yesterday searching for a Briton who disappeared shortly after her seven-year-old daughter fell from the fifth-floor balcony of a hotel in Mallorca, leaving the girl in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

The child fell 30ft from the balcony of her hotel on to a flat roof at around 7am yesterday. She was taken to hospital, where she was operated on for severe head injuries, a broken jaw, and a ruptured liver.

A hospital spokesman said: "Her condition is very serious. But her father has asked the hospital not to give out any more details, and obviously we are respecting his wishes."

The girl's mother, Sara, disappeared soon after the incident took place, and police were last night still searching for her.

The girl was reported to have been playing in one of the two rooms occupied by her family when she fell. Her father, Ian, and two older brothers were in the other room at the time.

A police spokesman said: "We have spoken to the girl's father. What we have ascertained is that the family had booked two hotel rooms and the mum was in one with the girl and the father in another with her two siblings.

"But we won't have a clearer picture of what happened, and what has led her to disappear, until we locate the mother."

The police did not confirm the names of those involved.

The incident took place at the Hotel Samoa, in Calas de Mallorca, on the east coast of the island, some 38 miles from the capital, Palma. The three-star hotel has more than 300 rooms over eight floors.

When paramedics arrived, the girl was still conscious, though seriously hurt. She was taken to Manacor hospital, from where doctors hoped to transfer her to San Dureta hospital in Palma. This was not immediately possible, due to the seriousness of her injuries, and she was only transferred once her condition had stabilised after a three-hour operation.

Police were last night using a helicopter to search the island for her mother. Forensic police have searched the hotel rooms, and inspected the area where the child fell.

According to reports, the child was found by a group of hotel cleaners, who had been alerted by her crying, around 10 minutes after she fell.

One witness said: "I was working nearby and heard her crying. First of all, I thought it was an angry child. Later, I thought it was an sick child ... it was a strange, piercing cry."

The Foreign Office confirmed that it was aware of an incident involving "a British national, a minor, who fell from a balcony".